Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Oliver bone and Stéphane Locas radically improved their standings at major regattas with a great performance at the 470 Class European championship. Thanks to a bullet in the 3rd race, the team of Montreal sailors made it into the gold fleet allowing them to continue sailing against the best for the remainder of the regatta. They then continued to post generally much better finishes than in the past. At the conclusion of the last major regatta before their Olympic show, they scored 26 overall. 91 teams were competing. The highest finishes they achieved were the 1st, and a 7th and 8th.

The last race presented tough conditions beyond the high calibre gold fleet to compete with. From the website:"The weather is extremely unusual in Riva today. After a heavy fall of rain yesterday, with snow on the mountain tops, the wind today is a fierce Force 7 with much colder conditions than would have been expected at this time of year. Several of the crews sailing in today’s medal race looked rather anxious as they took to the water for the vital final medal races."